Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) has filed a frivolous discrimination complaint with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Board of Education against its school Superintendent Joshua Starr (pictured). The kerfuffle started in February when PFOX disseminated 8,000 fliers at five Montgomery County schools, which led Starr to rightfully call PFOX “reprehensible and deplorable.”
FStarr claimed that although he vehemently disagreed with PFOX’s noxious message, the school district was legally bound to hand out the fliers because the law stated that the literature of all registered non-profits must be included for distribution. This has led to a reassessment of policy, with the school district considering the termination of the entire flier program. In this case, one rotten apple may ruin the entire barrel.
As the record unequivocally shows, Starr’s assessment of PFOX was correct. Robust and unambiguous evidence proves that PFOX is a radical anti-gay hate group that distributed deeply misleading and offensive fliers. The organization advocates discredited therapy models, denigrates LGBT people, brazenly uses outdated studies, deliberately inflates its credentials, demonizes its opposition, engages in false advertising, and refers students to disgraced therapists who use bizarre techniques.
The Montgomery Country School Board has an obligation to address PFOX’s deception and actual record, not the sophistic public relations campaign evidenced in its trivial complaint. The school board has a duty to protect students from harm and it is clear by PFOX’s own statements that the goal of the organization is to ridicule, malign, and shame LGBT pupils.
Here is the case against PFOX and why the Montgomery County School Board should dismiss its latest empty threat:
1) PFOX is a hate group that loathes LGBT people
In a press release outlining the group’s complaint against Superintendent Starr, PFOX’s Executive Director Regina Griggs wrote that PFOX’s flier “discouraged student name calling and labeling, and urged tolerance for former homosexuals.”
To the extent this is true, it highlights how the flier is deeply deceptive and is intended to conceal the true message of PFOX. While PFOX claims to oppose name-calling, its history tells another story. For example, in August 2010, PFOX president Greg Quinlan spoke at a conference organized by SPLC-certified hate group, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. In his speech, Quinlan made an outrageous and offensive anti-LGBT slur:
“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan said. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”
Let’s not beat around the bush – Quinlan’s recorded comment is reason alone for Montgomery County Schools to prohibit distribution of PFOX’s flier. It also gives credence to Starr’s assertion that PFOX’s message is “reprehensible and deplorable.” Had any other minority been publicly subjected to such a slur we would not be having this debate. Quinlan’s comments do, however, lay waste to the claim that PFOX stands for tolerance and diversity and is opposed to bullying and name-calling.
PFOX’s press release goes onto say: “Starr does not respect diversity and is creating an unsafe school environment. As School Superintendent, Starr’s actions make it impossible for Montgomery County public schools to provide an atmosphere where differences are understood and appreciated, or where everyone is treated fairly and with respect free of discrimination and abuse, as mandated by its Nondiscrimination Policy ACB.”
This rhetoric is fascinating considering PFOX board member Peter Sprigg, who works for SPLC hate group, the Family Research Council, once said that he wanted to “export” LGBT people and that he supports criminalizing homosexuality.
In March 2008, Sprigg responded to a question on Hardball with Chris Matthews about uniting gay partners during the immigration process by saying: “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them.” He later apologized, but then went on to tell MSNBC host Chris Matthews, “I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions on homosexual behavior.” “So we should outlaw gay behavior?” Matthews asked. “Yes,” Sprigg replied.
Arthur Abba Goldberg (pictured), a convicted felon who is a key member of PFOX’s speakers bureau, has smeared LGBT people with ugly stereotypes disguised as scientific observation:
“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Goldberg in a live recording at an Americans for Truth About Homosexuality conference. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”
Another PFOX board member, Matt Barber, recently responded to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech declaring that gay rights are human rights by saying, “How dare we, the U.S., export our decline in morality to other nations?”
Barber, who disparagingly calls the gay rights movement “the sexual anarchist lobby,” and the lives of LGBT people “The Gay Deathstyle,” is so extreme that he has even defended the debunked work of holocaust revisionist Scott Lively. Here are a few “loving” gems from PFOX’s Barber:
• “It boils down to this: there is nothing ‘conservative’ about one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’ Or two women awkwardly mimicking natural procreative relations or raising a child together in an intentionally fatherless home.”
• “Indeed, it seems the common moniker ‘homosexual lifestyle’ has it exactly backwards. As opponents of the extremist ‘gay’ lobby have long illustrated, homosexuality falls dead center within our nation’s burgeoning culture of death.”
• “Unfortunately, however, we live in a society where this particular sin is embraced, promoted and even celebrated. People erroneously equate this unnatural and sinful behavior with ‘identity’ and ’orientation’ even taking ’pride’ in an objectively deviant lifestyle.”
• “It’s tragic when people yield to disordered sexual temptations that can literally kill them spiritually, emotionally and physically. Nobody with any compassion enjoys watching others ‘[receive] in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.’”
• “There are even self-professed Christians today who inexcusably join in with the secular Left in affirming homosexual sin as a good thing. There’s a word for these types: apostate. There’s no wiggle room here. If you defend or seek to justify homosexual conduct, you defy God. Not good.”
• “I don’t mean to be flip (okay, maybe a little flip) but can someone please tell me why on earth the Left insists that we ‘tolerate’ homosexual behavior while – as the CDC has once again confirmed – it continues to have results similar to brick-walling?” (Running head first into a brick wall)
The insincere “love” caveat aside, such extreme rhetoric should surprise no one familiar with PFOX. The group’s founder, the late Anthony Falzarano, once referred to hate crime victim Matthew Shepard as a “predator to heterosexual men” and once told CBS News, “AIDS comes from the devil, directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”
To recap: We have a crass organization that refers to LGBT people as “flaming faggots.” PFOX’s disparages and mocks gay men by claiming they, “engage in violently cramming [the] penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’” And a key board members want to criminalize homosexuality or gay people exported.
Incredibly, this remarkably nasty and virulently homophobic group makes the outrageous claim that they carry the banner of true tolerance? I hope the Montgomery County School Board is not buying what they are selling.
Obviously, PFOX is using its relatively milquetoast flier to conceal its discriminatory actions, mean-spirited remarks, and mask its shocking level of malevolence towards LGBT people. And once vulnerable students read the flier, they are directed to the PFOX website where they will be subjected to poisonous anti-gay rhetoric or quack therapists.
2) PFOX misrepresents its credentials
To boost its credentials and bolster its failed attempts to appear mainstream, PFOX applied for and received a perfunctory “Certificate of Appreciation” from the District of Columbia. What PFOX isn’t telling people is that former DC mayor, Adrian Fenty, said in 2010 that the “honor” was a clerical error. After PFOX refused to take the “award” down, the Secretary of the District of Columbia sent a letter demanding that PFOX “remove Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Certificate of Appreciation from your website.”
Arrogantly, PFOX refused the request and the certificate is still on the bottom right-hand side of the organization’s website. This brazen action demonstrates of pattern of gross deception and illustrates that PFOX is deliberately misrepresenting itself as an organization valued by the DC government.
3) PFOX intentionally uses outdated science to deceive its members
Last month, Dr. Robert Spitzer disavowed his infamous 2001 study claiming that some gay people could become heterosexual. This was a major news event that was covered by the mainstream media. Yet, PFOX still has a video up of Dr. Robert Spitzer on the lower right hand side of its website where Spitzer’s is discussing his now retracted information. The disputed Montgomery County fliers direct students to the PFOX website, which contains the outdated Spitzer interview. This is a vivid and indisputable example of PFOX outright lying and distorting reality. This is not a simple difference of opinion or a political or religious dispute, as PFOX wrongly suggests, but a conscious effort to misrepresent the facts.
4) PFOX demonizes and lies about its opponents
PFOX smears LGBT advocates with whom it disagrees and literally demonizes them. For example, on October 7, 2011 PFOX President Greg Quinlan was interviewed on NewsPlus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV).
“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
As a result of this comment, Truth Wins Out sued PFOX and Quinlan (pictured). A Virginia judge quickly dismissed the case claiming that Besen was a public figure, which significantly raised the bar for proving defamation. However, when confronted with TWO’s original threat of a lawsuit, Quinlan abruptly changed his story on PFOX’s website: “The truth is that Besen once said to me in a private conversation that someone should run me over with a bus or inject me with AIDS.”
First Quinlan alleged that Besen made these statements to other people, then he reversed course and said that Besen addressed him directly in a private conversation. TWO challenged Quinlan to disclose when and where this alleged private conversation occurred or to provide e-mail or phone records that would confirm his telling of events. As of this date, PFOX and Quinlan have not provided evidence to back their contrived, defamatory, and fabricated tale.
Quinlan also outright lied on PFOX’s website about Besen being fired from the Human Rights Campaign (He wasn’t). During the court case TWO provided Quinlan and his legal team with a letter from HRC refuting the bogus charge. Yet, Quinlan is still unrepentant and brazenly repeating the false story, which brings into question the character of PFOX’s leadership team.
Last week, in a PFOX website post, the organization requested that people send harmful information about TWO’s Wayne Besen to the e-mail address WackyWayne666@hotmail.com, with the “666” symbolizing the “devil.” This is not the first time that Besen has been literally demonized by PFOX. The group’s former webmaster, who went by the name Burning Black Triangle, distributed a picture on the Internet that portrayed Besen as satanic.
A PFOX ally and former PFOX board member, DL Foster, once drew an Adolph Hitler mustache on Besen, who is Jewish, and circulated it on the Internet.
Despite his propensity to draw Hitler mustaches on opponents, here is PFOX’s description of DL Foster’s ministry:
Powerful Change Ministry Group (PC) is a national fellowship of 11 Christian African-American led ministries whose goal is to advocate change for same-sex strugglers among people of color. PC members work diligently to raise awareness in the Black community on the need for holistic ministry to affected individuals as well as their families. Contact: DL Foster, National Coordinator
Do Montgomery County Schools really want to place students in the hands of people with such alarming and extreme views?
5) PFOX recommends students go to bizarre and discredited therapists
The former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations:
Cohen is the individual most associated with the discredited mental health techniques trumpeted by PFOX. When students read PFOX’s flier, they presumably go to the website. Once there, they are directed to either Cohen or those trained in his bizarre methods to “cure” homosexuality. Watch Cohen in action and then decide if this is the healthiest atmosphere for LGBT students who attend Montgomery County Schools:
PFOX also relies heavily on the “ex-gay” organization the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). Here is an example of NARTH’s “unbiased” and “scientific” views:
“We, as citizens, need to articulate God’s intent for human sexuality,” Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, President of NARTH, said in CNN’ 360 Degrees with Anderson Cooper, April 14, 2007.
At the Feb. 10, 2007 Love Won Out conference in Phoenix, Nicolosi told the audience, “When we live our God-given integrity and our human dignity, there is no space for sex with a guy.”
NARTH was co-founded by late Dr. Socarides who told The Washington Post on August 14, 1997, “Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder, there is no question about it. It is a purple menace that is threatening the proper design of gender distinctions in society.”
In 2006, NARTH was ensnared in two major controversies. In the first, psychiatrist Joseph Berger, MD, a member of their “Scientific Advisory Committee,” wrote a paper encouraging students to “ridicule” gender variant children.
“I suggest, indeed, letting children who wish go to school in clothes of the opposite sex–but not counseling other children to not tease them or hurt their feelings,” Dr. Berger wrote on NARTH’s website. “On the contrary, don’t interfere, and let the other children ridicule the child who has lost that clear boundary between play-acting at home and the reality needs of the outside world. Maybe, in this way, the child will re-establish that necessary boundary.”
In the second controversy, Gerald Schoenwolf, PhD, also a member of NARTH’s “Scientific Advisory Committee,” wrote a polemic on the group’s website that seemed to justify slavery:
“With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America,” wrote Schoenwolf. “It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman.”
It is critical that the Montgomery County School Board understand that when students take home PFOX fliers and are directed to its website, they are urged to contact NARTH:
Call NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) at 818-789-4440 for the names of therapists in your area who specialize in reorientation therapy. To learn more about NARTH, they have a website at http://www.narth.com
How does the school board rationalize sending gay teenagers to a “therapy” group that justified slavery, calls homosexuality a “purple menace,” and believes that gender variant children can be “corrected” by allowing “the other children ridicule the child.”
It is also worth pointing out that PFOX directs students to JONAH and People Can Change. Both organizations are affiliated with unlicensed counselors, including Alan Downing, who allegedly acted inappropriately with at least four clients. Neither organization properly investigated or took action against the serious allegations.
It is essential to note that all respected medical and mental health organizations oppose “ex-gay” therapy, with the American Psychiatric Association saying that attempts to change sexual orientation can lead to, “anxiety, depression, and self-destructive behavior.”
Why would Montgomery County want to place LGBT youth, already at an elevated risk for bullying, depression, and suicide, in dangerous situations that can lead to tragedy? To continue allowing PFOX into the school system is to court disaster. It is grossly irresponsible, reckless, and a dereliction of the primary duty of administrators, which is to protect students from potential predators.
6) False Advertising
PFOX talks a good game about people going from gay-to-straight, but they have no evidence to back up their false claims. PFOX President Greg Quinlan exaggerated the success rate of Richard Cohen by saying that he cured 90% of his clients.
Where is Quinlan’s or Cohen’s proof to back up such wildly optimistic assertions? It is interesting how they conceal their “amazing” results and the methods they used to achieve them.
Ironically, PFOX is making such outrageous claims at a time when other so-called “ex-gay” activists are scaling back their empty promises. Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, had this to say at the Gay Christian Network conference in January:
“The majority of people that I have met, and I would say the majority meaning 99.9% of them have not experienced a change in their orientation or have gotten to a place where they could say that they could never be tempted or are not tempted in some way or experience some level of same-sex attraction.”
John Smid, the former director of the “ex-gay” organization Love in Action, recently said:
“I’ve never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.”
Last year, Former Brazilian “ex-gay” activist Sergio Viula admitted:
“In fact, ex-gays don’t exist – it’s pure self-suggestion.”
Even with such strong testimony against “change”coming from the least likely quarters, PFOX still uses the following billboard, which can be seen on its website:
If this isn’t an example of false advertising, I don’t know what is.
The record of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) really is “reprehensible and deplorable.” The Montgomery County Board of Education and its Superintendent Joshua Starr should dismiss their frivolous complaint and do everything in their power to keep this toxic hate group’s lies away from students.
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Greg Quinlan is Liar and PFOX is a Dishonest Organization, Says TWO
Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out disputed Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) dishonest and immature portrayal today of a lawsuit filed against its President Greg Quinlan. The lawsuit was dismissed by the United States District Court in Richmond because Besen was deemed a “public figure,” which raises the bar on proving malice in defamation lawsuits. However, the outcome does not erase the fact that Quinlan is a liar who got successfully called out for lying by Truth Wins Out.
“Greg Quinlan clearly fabricated a story and continues to lie about it, showing he has deep character flaws and is unchristian,” said Truth Wins Out’s Wayne Besen. “I’m pleased that we were able to use our lawsuit to highlight his moral turpitude and unethical conduct. Our legal action hardly cost us any money, but it cost Mr. Quinlan his credibility and reputation.” (What shard of credibility existed, anyway)
On October 7, 2011 Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). At the 10:38 mark of the show, Quinlan fabricates an alleged hit on his life. According to Quinlan:
“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
When confronted with TWO’s threat of a lawsuit, Quinlan abruptly changed his story on PFOX’s website: “The truth is that Besen once said to me in a private conversation that someone should run me over with a bus or inject me with AIDS.”
First Quinlan alleged that Besen made these statements to other people, then he reversed course and said that Besen addressed him directly in a private conversation. TWO challenges Quinlan to disclose when and where this alleged private conversation occurred. If it was a phone conversation, we hope that Quinlan will provide phone records. If the supposed conversation took place in person, Quinlan should reveal precisely where and when the incident took place. Of course, we will never get honest answers because Greg Quinlan is a liar who consistently misrepresents the truth.
“When one’s entire life is based on a lie, it is easy to see how this might affect truth telling in a number of ways,” says Besen. “My challenge to Quinlan still stands: let’s both take lie detector tests and release the results publicly. Of course this dishonest coward will never rise to this challenge.”
Quinlan also outright lied on PFOX’s website about Besen being fired from the Human Rights Campaign. During the court case TWO provided Quinlan and his legal team with a letter from HRC refuting the bogus charge. Yet, Quinlan repeated the charge today, setting the stage for another potential lawsuit.
To see the dishonesty of PFOX, one has to look no further than the Homepage of its website. On the bottom right-hand side is a video of Dr. Robert Spitzer asserting that some gay people can go from gay to straight, even though Spitzer has now disavowed his study. Right below that is a “Certificate of Appreciation” from the District of Columbia, even though the former mayor, Adrian Fenty said in 2010 that the “honor” was a clerical error.
“Why are the Spitzer video and the DC certificate still on the front page of PFOX’s site?” Asked Besen. “It seems incredibly sleazy of PFOX to deceive their own supporters by deliberately posting misrepresentations and outdated research.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
The Basic Fact Remains That PFOX’s Greg Quinlan Fabricated Two Stories to Smear Truth Wins Out
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Truth Wins Out expressed disappointment today that its defamation lawsuit, Wayne Besen vs. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gregory Quinlan, was dismissed by the United States District Court in Richmond because Besen was deemed a “public figure,” which raises the bar on proving malice in defamation lawsuits. While TWO disagrees with the ruling, it does nothing to negate the original charge that PFOX’s Greg Quinlan fabricated two stories in an effort to smear Truth Wins Out and Besen, asserts TWO.
“We disagree with the ruling but knew it was an uphill battle given the extremely high bar set to win a defamation lawsuit for people determined to be public figures,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “However, we are proud of the fact that we hauled PFOX into court for its blatant lies, stood up to Quinlan’s odious smear campaign, and we would not hesitate do so again in the future.”
Quinlan’s first lie occurred on October 7, 2011 when Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). At the 10:38 mark of the show, Quinlan fabricates an alleged hit on his life. According to Quinlan:
“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
Quinlan’s second lie occurred when he falsely claimed that Besen was fired from the Human Rights Campaign, where he served as Deputy Director of Communications from 1998-2003. In reality, Besen left HRC after five years on good terms to pursue a new career opportunity. A letter from the Human Rights Campaign unequivocally proving Quinlan lied was included in our lawsuit.
According to the court ruling: “A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the sufficiency of a complaint….[I]t does not resolve contests surrounding the facts, the merits of a claim, or the applicability of defenses. So-called “public figure” plaintiffs-individuals “involved in issues in which the public has a justified and important interest”- are held to an even higher standard.”
The publication Courthouse Newswrote: “As the Fourth Circuit has observed, ‘establishing actual malice is no easy task, because the defamation plaintiff bears the burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence.”
While the lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality, TWO says that PFOX has yet to defend itself in the court of public opinion and prove that Greg Quinlan had not lied. This is a rather tenuous position to be in for an organization that purports to represent wholesome Christian morality and family values.
“Let’s be crystal clear that the outcome of this case did not exonerate Greg Quinlan from our central charge that he outright fabricated his story of me asking people to kill him,” said TWO’s Besen. “I strongly reiterate my call for Quinlan to take a polygraph or a No Lie MRI to prove his innocence. Why is he so afraid to take up this straightforward challenge? What is he hiding?”
The following is a statement by Truth Wins Out’s attorney Michael Hamer:
“The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, has dismissed Wayne Besen’s defamation suit against Greg Quinlan, President of PFOX and PFOX itself for outrageous and unfounded statements made by Quinlan last year. The key to the result was the court’s finding that Besen is a “public figure” which triggers a very high burden to prevail in defamation cases. As the Court noted, “so-called “public figures’ plaintiffs…are held to an even higher standard…The New York Times standard is a difficult one for libel plaintiffs to meet and its application may sometimes produce harsh results.” In TWO’s view, this dismissal is one such harsh result.
Besen and TWO continue to believe that Quinlan’s statements were knowingly false. However, as the court further noted in its finding that Besen is a public figure, Besen and TWO have sufficient access to media avenues and other means to address and refute the falsehood of Quinlan’s statements. While the Court’s decision was not totally unexpected given the current case law surrounding public figures, Besen and TWO believe that filing the legal action was still the right course of action to underscore the falsity of the statements made against Besen. Besen and TWO will continue to work to expose the falsehood not only of Quinlan’s statements but the entire ‘ex-gay’ myth promoted by PFOX and its financial backers. This task will be made easier in light of Dr. Robert Spitzer recent recantation of his 2001 study that PFOX so frequently likes to cite to support its snake oil.”
To see the dishonesty of PFOX, one has to look no further than the Homepage of its website. On the bottom right-hand side is video from Dr. Robert Spitzer asserting that some gay people can go from gay to straight, even though Spitzer has now disavowed his study. Right below that is a “Certificate of Appreciation” from the District of Columbia, even though the former mayor, Adrian Fenty said in 2010 that the “honor” was a clerical error.
PFOX’s former board President, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations.
Convicted felon Arthur Abba Goldberg runs the group’s speaker’s bureau. The late Anthony Falzarano, who had derisively referred to hate crime victim Matthew Shepard as a “predator to heterosexual men” founded PFOX. He once told CBS News, “AIDS comes from the devil, directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.” Quinlan, the current board President, calls homosexuals claimed that while he was an out of the closet as a gay man he wasn’t “a limp wristed, flaming faggot.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Anthony Falzarano, the shrill “ex-gay” activist who founded Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and once derisively referred to hate crime victim Matthew Shepard as a “predator to heterosexual men” has died. A staunch proponent of spiritual warfare, Falzarano once told CBS News, “AIDS comes from the devil, directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to us this morning that they indeed had an Anthony Falzarano there in their morgue. Since Anthony and his wife, Dianne, are the only ones listed there by that name, we are taking this as confirmation that this is the same Anthony Falzarano who has participated in ex-gay and anti-gay activities since the 1990′s.
Prior to his “transformation” he claimed to be a former prostitute and the late Roy Cohn’s houseboy. Falzarano’s entry into the “ex-gay” scene in the early 80′s has always been a little murky. In one version of his tale, God told Falzarano to go straight before the AIDS crises hit. In another version, after many of his friends had passed away, God told him to become “ex-gay.” In yet a third version, one of his sexual conquests felt guilty after their encounter and introduced him to Christ. Obviously, these colorful versions are contradictions and they can’t all be true.
(Box Turtle Bulletin has more on this aspect of his life. And for the complete story, please get my book, Anything But Straight)
Falzarano put the bite in soundbite and was media friendly, clever, and opportunistic. In 1998, he started the wretched organization PFOX with an $80,000 grant from the virulently anti-gay lobby group the Family Research Council. This is the same year that 15 religious right organizations unveiled the high-profile $600,000 “Truth in Love” campaign. Falzarano regularly appeared at Family Research Council press conferences and in the media during this tumultuous time period when the “ex-gay” industry was in its heyday. Falzarano also told me that he was one of Dr. Robert Spitzer’s subjects in his recently renounced study.
Falzarano departed PFOX after a bitter dispute with the religious right. In a media conference at the National Press Club, he claimed that conservative political groups who sponsored a high-profile 1998 ad campaign, had no use for “ex-gay” organizations other than for public relations purposes.
“Many of us in the ex-gay movement feel we are being used,” said Falzarano. “The [anti-gay coalition] is not coming close to the needs of homosexuals. We did that very successful newspaper campaign last year…the Christian Coalition did not send us a dime. All we’re asking for is possibly some money to pay for postage stamps.”
Falzarano was kicked out of PFOX and at one point refused to vacate the group’s office, which led to a stand off. Eventually he departed and started a rival organization, Parents and Friends Ministries. However, the group quickly hit a snag when it tried to host a three day “Healing for the Homosexual” conference at The Catholic University of America. The school cancelled the event after the university said that Falzarano applied for use of school facilities under “false pretenses.”
According to the Washington Times, CUA spokesman Victor Nakas said Falzarano misrepresented the intent of the conference in newspaper ads–giving the impression it would deal with ministering to victims of child abuse – when he signed the contract.
“We do not rent space when people come to us under false pretenses,” Nakas said in the Times article. “When we found out the purpose of the conference was different than he had applied for, we contacted him on May 17. We do not rent space to people who misrepresent themselves. If the conference had been described to us as it was in the ad, it’d be a completely different story.”
More recently, Falzarano moved to West Palm Beach and authored, Such Were Some of You: One Man’s Walk Out of the Gay Lifestyle. The book had little impact and few people paid attention to it, as Falzarano limped into slow anonymity, save the occasional nasty comment left on LGBT blogs.
Over the years, I personally got to know Falzarano. In my view, he was a very likable guy and I enjoyed his sense of humor. Unfortunately, he also had a crazy side and was severely truth challenged. His most frequent lie was claiming that people became homosexuals because they were molested as children.
My favorite story: I visited his office in late 1999 to ask him a few questions about PFOX. He practically dropped to his knees and begged me to come with him to Jerusalem for the millennium so we could be closer to God when the world ended. He was a bit embarrassed the next time I saw him, which was on earth, not in heaven as he swore would be the case.
While we had a few civil conversations behind the scenes, we sparred in the media. At the 1:03 mark of the video you can catch a younger version of me battling Falzrano on the Roseanne Show, as you can hear him yelling “you lie” as I speak:
The last time I saw Falzarano was in 2011 at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC although he did not notice me because he was preoccupied in deep prayer. There were many aspects of Anthony Falzarano that I liked, and others that I loathed. I hope he rests in peace and that God, if he exists, isn’t too harsh on this man for his habitual destructive lies directed at innocent LGBT people. However, at the end of the day, I forgive Falzarano. He was simply a little bit nuts and could not help himself with the fibs. His dishonesty and inability to tell the truth defined him as a human being far more than his false claim to be a “former homosexual” ever would.
And they will whine viathese handy flyers! Here, schoolchildren, some bitter adults would like to complain in your general direction. If you’re a gay kid, it will feel like being bullied by adults you’ve never met, but don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to feel [click to embiggen]:
“Thousands” of people is an uncorroborated number, since most people who go through “ex-gay” programs end up in one of four places: 1. Back out of the closet, living happy lives, 2. Still in the closet, more depressed than they were when they went in, 3. Suicidal or 4. On the payroll of an “ex-gay” corporation like Greg Quinlan. Moreover, there is no proof of any alleged discrimination, unless Greg Quinlan is arguing that straight people are the true victims of discrimination in this society. I mean, “ex-gays” are supposed to be straight now, right? Joe points out that Quinlan has a failed “heterosexual” marriage to prove it! And that last part — what are “ex-gays” denied “equal access” to? Grindr?
If only “one part of you” has gay feelings, and it’s the part of you that has sexual feelings, then yes, you’re probably gay. That being said, the idea of “your whole life” being gay-identified is a straw man argument. No one is defined solely by his or her sexual orientation. But it’s like that old adage about sex in relationships — if your sex life is good, it’s about 10% of your relationship. If it’s not, it’s somewhere between 50% and 90%. Likewise, if you’re healthy and happy in your sexual orientation, it’s just a small piece of your life, albeit an important piece. If you’re running away from your sexual orientation like it’s a demon you have to slay, you may feel that you’re doing well in other areas of your life, but at the end of the day, you’re just a big closet case.
My favorite part of that section, though, is the part they accidentally left out. After “thousands of ex-gay men and women had those very same feelings when they were in school,” the PFOX people forgot to write, “And they still do!”
Anyway, it never ceases to amaze me how, while we’re over here trying to help create a world where all kids feel loved and accepted, Religious Right loons never stop trying to hurt one special subgroup of kids. It’s sick.
Today, Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiated his much-criticized 2001 study that claimed some “highly motivated” homosexuals could go from gay to straight.
Now it is up to anti-gay and so-called “ex-gay” organizations to show some dignity and class by expeditiously removing all citations of Dr. Robert Spitzer’s study from their web pages. This is nothing short of a major integrity test to show which groups are honest and decent enough to do the right thing.
PFOX should be the first to act. This group has relentlessly and shamelessly flogged Spitzer’s study, even when he first began to inch away from the findings and upbraid right wing groups for distorting and exaggerating his findings. Here is a video TWO shot of Spitzer in 2007 urging such groups to stop twisting his work.
Here are a few more examples of how Spitzer’s work is being used to harm LGBT people. We hope these groups will act quickly. The world is watching:
Stanton L. Jones and mark A. Yarhouse (Pg. 89)
“Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation”
“Perhaps the highly publicized recent study in which participants reported successful change of sexual orientation was authored by research psychiatrist Robert L. Spitzer. Spitzer could be construed to be the most qualified person in the world to conduct this sort of research; in addition to a distinguished research career, he was the lead scientist responsible for revision of the DSM of the APA.”
In a move that serves as a significant blow to “ex-gay” programs and anti-gay organizations, Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiated his much-criticized 2001 study that claimed some “highly motivated” homosexuals could go from gay to straight. His retraction occurred in an American Prospect magazine article that hit newsstands today. Spitzer’s rejection of his own research, which was originally published in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior, is a devastating blow to “ex-gay” organizations because it decisively eliminates their most potent claim that homosexuality can be reversed through therapy and prayer.
Dr. Spitzer’s repudiation of his 2001 study is an earthquake that severely undermines the validity of ‘ex-gay’ programs. Spitzer just kicked out the final leg from the stool on which the proponents of ‘ex-gay’ therapy based their already shaky claims of success.
Spitzer’s 2001 study was a surprise and created a media firestorm because he had previously led the charge in 1972-73 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. At the time, this was a shocking story that captured the nation’s attention. Dr. Spitzer was the last person in America one would have expected to produce a study bolstering the claims of ‘ex-gay’ activists.
According to today’s American Prospect article:
“In retrospect, I have to admit I think the critiques [of my study] are largely correct,” Dr. Spitzer told the American Prospect in an article by Gabriel Arana titled, My So Called Ex-Gay Life. “The findings can be considered evidence for what those who have undergone ex-gay therapy say about it, but nothing more.”
He said he spoke with the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior about writing a retraction, but the editor declined. (Repeated attempts to contact the journal went unanswered.)
Spitzer said that he was proud of having been instrumental in removing homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. Now 80 and retired, he was afraid that the 2001 study would tarnish his legacy and perhaps hurt others. He said that failed attempts to rid oneself of homosexual attractions “can be quite harmful.” He has, though, no doubts about the 1973 fight over the classification of homosexuality.
“Had there been no Bob Spitzer, homosexuality would still have eventually been removed from the list of psychiatric disorders,” he said. “But it wouldn’t have happened in 1973.”
Spitzer was growing tired and asked how many more questions I had. Nothing, I responded, unless you have something to add. He did. Would I print a retraction of his 2001 study, “So I don’t have to worry about it anymore”?
Dr. Spitzer’s research was particularly harmful because he was the only non-socially conservative scientist to produce a study claiming some people could “pray away the gay.”
“This man is an atheist, so he’s not Bible thumping and doesn’t have an ax to grind,” said Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), in an October 7, 2011 interview on NewsPlus with Mark Segraves. “He just decided, let’s talk about this ex-gay thing and see if it’s true. And he has concluded it can be true for people who are highly motivated to change.” PFOX currently has a video of Dr. Spitzer on the front page of its website.
Virtually every anti-gay organization in the country quotes Dr. Spitzer’s work. It will be an integrity test to see which groups remove citations of his work in the coming week. Those who continue to use his study to back their agenda are deliberately misleading people and we intend to hold them accountable.
This is not the first major “ex-gay” study to be debunked. For decades, anti-gay organizations gleefully pointed to Homosexuality in Perspective, a 1979 book written by Dr. William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, that claimed to cure gayness. Indeed, the husband-and-wife sex research team went on Meet the Press on April 22, 1979 to discuss their findings. In his groundbreaking 2009 book, Masters of Sex, author Thomas Maier discovered that the results of Masters & Johnson’s study were entirely fabricated. Virginia Johnson acknowledged that the results were fake and she had actually argued in 1978 that the book should never have seen the light of day – but it was already too late in the publishing process to undo the damage.
Fortunately, the Archives of Sexual Behavior can honor Dr. Spitzer’s wishes and retract his study. They have an ethical and moral obligation to act as quickly as possible to right this terrible wrong that has fueled anti-gay campaigns for more than a decade. Truth Wins Out praised Dr. Spitzer, saying that his admission has solidified his legacy as a respected doctor and significant historical figure.
“It is never easy to admit wrongdoing and Dr. Robert Spitzer deserves much credit for reversing course,” said TWO’s Besen. “He acted in a noble and honorable manner which is consistent with the vast majority of his career.
Not one mainstream organization of medical and mental health professionals has found any evidence to support so-called “ex-gay” therapy; in fact, the evidence they have found suggests that it can actually be harmful to patients.
I was doing a bit of research this morning and I stumbled upon a “Quack Classic” by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). In a book he co-wrote with his wife Linda Nicolosi, “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality,” he opines:
I have also seen this same intense fascination with neutered or genderless cartoon characters. One father told me that his son, who is now involved in homosexuality and is refusing to consider change, had a boyhood fascination with Bozo the clown. At the time his parents thought it was cute, even if a little strange. But he held onto the obsession until the age of twelve. The truth is, these obsessive interests are boys’ attempts to lose themselves in a fantasy world where they can imagine themselves as something other than male and where the challenges of gender do not exist. (P. 67)
How does Dr. Nicolosi know that this is “the truth” and not some surreal theory he pulled out of his posterior? And aren’t most forms of entertainment attempts to lose oneself in a fantasy world — such as watching sports, going to the movies, drinking beer, watching television, or playing video games?
Here is the truth: When one reads such idiotic notions it is a reminder of why the entire field of “ex-gay” therapy should be easily dismissed and not taken seriously. Such therapy exists, not as science, but as a cynical public relations stunt designed to trick people into thinking the medical field echos the opinions of fundamentalist Christians on homosexuality.
However, the more one reads about the techniques and ideas espoused by “doctors” like Nicolosi, the easier it is to see through the nonsense. So-called Reparative Therapy is a joke perpetuated by religious individuals playing doctor who obviously have psychological disturbances and severe sexual hangups. The bizarre ideas they come up with prove that they are on the wrong side of the couch and are in serious need of professional help.
This is the same buffoonish book where Nicolosi tells fathers that “The experience of taking showers together has the potential to strengthen a boy’s identification with his father and his father’s masculinity, as well as with his own male anatomy.”
To bolster his position, Nicolosi quotes Dr. George Rekers, the infamous quack who got caught taking a young male escort to Europe that he met on Rentboy.com:
If the son repeatedly touches his father’s privates every time they take a shower together, Dr. Rekers advises the father to say, “I don’t mind if you look at my penis, because I’m your dad and seeing what my grownup penis looks like helps you learn how your body will grow up to be like mine. But now that you’ve already touched it to see what it’s like, I need to teach you that we guys don’t touch each other’s penises — unless we’re a doctor examining a patient or a parent giving a little boy his bath or checking if a boy needs medicine if he complains his private parts hurt or itch. Furthermore, the father should explain that when a boy touches his own penis, he should do so in private.” (P. 187)
This creepy claptrap is what “reparative therapy” is all about. These are the pathetic products and wacky ideas that PFOX, JONAH, and Exodus International have been peddling to clients for years.
And they wonder why they are laughed at and mocked by thinking society. But such tomfoolery masquerading as science is fully deserving of scorn and belly laughs. Clearly, “ex-gay” activists are not serious people and they promote almost child-like, superstitious notions on human sexuality that must be confronted and dismissed by the modern world.
Here is Nicolosi spewing more unscientific trash, such as a trauma, sexual abuse, or a distant father can turn boys gay. Or maybe it is an older brother good at sports that makes the timid younger brother gay. It is important that people realize that no mainstream, credible scientific organization in the world supports Nicolosi’s carackpot ideas.
At a recent Gay Christian Network conference in Orlando, Exodus President Alan Chambers claimed: “We’re not here to change you. That is our message….We can’t do that… ‘Change is Possible’ we don’t use that phrase anymore…I’m sorry that that is something that we used.”
Sadly, Justin Lee, the Executive Director of GCN, fell for Chambers’ act and said on stage to Chambers, “I hear you and I believe you when I hear you say that this is not a slogan you are using any more.”
Truth Wins Out filed a special report, The Exodus Smokescreen, pointing out that Exodus-affiliated ministries at the state level still widely claim that “change” is possible. Truth Wins Out presented further evidence that Chambers deliberately misled the GCN crowd after we obtained literature last weekend from Exodus’ Love Won Out conference.
If these vivid examples of Chambers’ dishonesty were not enough, Exodus author and speaker Joe Dallas is going to give a keynote address at Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) March 16-17 Family First retreat, where parents will be taught to rationalize rejecting their children’s sexual orientation. On PFOX’s homepage there is this billboard:
If Exodus International’s Chambers is truly “sorry that that is something we used,” isn’t it immoral for Joe Dallas to speak at a group that sill uses this misleading phrase? Why is Chambers allowing Dallas to speak at this event? Why would Dallas agree to talk there, if the message of PFOX is clearly at odds with that of Exodus?
It makes even less sense when you consider that Dallas told the Los Angeles Times on April 5, 1990, “No one has ever left therapy saying, ‘Wow, I have absolutely no homosexual thoughts.’”
Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, 2012 for a PFOX family and friends weekend.
The weekend will focus on uniting families through unconditional love.
Joe Dallas will be our opening speaker. Joe’s ministry in sexual addiction recovery and homosexuality is nationally recognized. He is the author of The Game Plan and The Men’s 30-Day Strategy for Attaining Sexual Integrity, and Program Director of Genesis Counseling in Tustin, Calif., a counseling ministry for men dealing with sexual addiction, homosexuality and other sexual/relational problems. He is a pastoral counselor, a popular conference speaker and author of five books on human sexuality from the Christian perspective.
This is a two-day experience for parents and friends of gay, lesbian and transgendered children. This is NOT a parent-child retreat, but an experience for parents who unconditionally love their children.
PFOX will provide educational resources, testimonies from former homosexuals and transgenders. You’ll have the opportunity to meet and form friendships with families who understand and share your feelings.
Friday’s meetings are from 7:30-9:30 PM.
Saturday’s meetings are from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM.Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.
The cost to attend the Retreat is $90 per person or $150 for two family members. Special discounts available to clergy. No walk-in registrations. Last day to register is March 3, 2012.
It is time that Chambers admits that he lied at GCN or acknowledges that he is so incompetent that he has virtually no control over his “ex-gay” racket. If anyone ever again says that “I believe you” when they are talking to Alan Chambers, without evidence to corroborate his tale — I’m going to pull my hair out.
There are times in life when you have to stand up and fight back against the bullies.
This is precisely what Truth Wins Out did today when it sued Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), an atrocious organization dedicated to placing “ex-gay” fliers in public schools, where their poison is peddled to vulnerable LGBT youth. I decided to sue PFOX after its President, Greg Quinlan, appeared on a television show and falsely claimed that I tried to have him killed.
Today, I need your help more than ever. Lawsuits are expensive and without your urgent assistance we will not be able to fight back and WIN against PFOX. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution today.
On October 7, 2011, Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). At the 10:38 mark of the show, Quinlan told the host:
“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
Of course, this incident never occurred and Quinlan’s bizarre version of events is a complete fabrication. These brazen lies and scurrilous allegations were clearly designed to damage my reputation and that of Truth Wins Out – a group that I’m proud to say is despised by the “ex-gay” industry.
Aren’t you sick and tired of anti-gay activists lying and simply “making things up” without having to suffer the consequences? Haven’t you reached your limit of watching these charlatans and reprobates smearing our loving families without having to pay a price for their lies?
Personally, I’ve had enough – and this is why Truth Wins Out is the first LGBT organization to FINALLY take these habitual liars to court.
It is absolutely critical that we hold PFOX accountable. If anti-gay activists get away with saying that LGBT advocates are trying to murder them today – what will stop them from alleging that we are terrorists tomorrow? Clearly, these homophobes have no decency and wrongly believe that they can lie with impunity.
This time, let’s not let PFOX and Greg Quinlan off the hook.
Thank you for your generosity and kind consideration. Together, we can finally stand up to the bullies and let them know that lying and viciously attacking our families comes with serious consequences.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) has filed a frivolous discrimination complaint with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Board of Education against its school Superintendent Joshua Starr (pictured). The kerfuffle started in February when PFOX disseminated 8,000 fliers at five Montgomery County schools, which led Starr to rightfully call PFOX “reprehensible and deplorable.”
• “It boils down to this: there is nothing ‘conservative’ about one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’ Or two women awkwardly mimicking natural procreative relations or raising a child together in an intentionally fatherless home.”
confronted with TWO’s original threat of a lawsuit, Quinlan abruptly changed his story on PFOX’s website: “The truth is that Besen once said to me in a private conversation that someone should run me over with a bus or inject me with AIDS.”
